Pile driving and drawing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A pile driving and drawing apparatus in which a plurality of drawing and driving wedges are disposed in a substantially hollow cylindrical member having an upwardly tapered and a downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion so as to be intimately engageable with these inner peripheral surface portions while releasably holding a pile during drawing operation and driving operation respectively. Means are further provided for causing rotation of the pile being driven and drawn into and out of the earth.

PATENIED OCT 9 I975 3 763.654

sum 1 or a PATENTED OCT 9 I975 SHEET E [If a FIG.

NAVAY/ r r F PATENTEUUET elm 3.753.654

SHEET 30F 4 PATENTEBBBT 9 15 $763,854

SHEET u 0F 4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to pile driving and drawing apparatus and more particularly to an apparatus of the above kind which can drive and draw a pile noise-free and vibration-free without being affected by the geological properties of the site of construction.

With the recent tendency toward larger scales of buildings and construction works, greater supporting forces have been required for piles and large-sized and elongated piles have been increasingly demanded. The use of such large-sized and elongated piles having a large supporting force has inevitably produced excessive noises and vibrations which pose various problems including public nuisances especially in thickly populated city areas. In an effort to realize noise-free and vibration-free construction works at a place where noises and vibrations are severely restricted, a rapid progress has recently been made in a noise-free and vibration free pile driving method such as a method in which a hole is previously bored by means such as an earth auger or earth drill and then a pile is dropped into the hole or a so-called cast-in-place pile driving method in which a steel pipe is driven into the earth and concrete is then cast into the steel pipe. However, with such prior art methods, a large-sized and unstable machine must be used and the earth and sand in the excavated hole must naturally be discharged to the earth surface. Further, the prior art methods have been defective in that the driving and drawing of piles cannot be satisfactorily carried out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to eliminate prior art defects as above described and to provide a novel and improved pile driving and drawing apparatus which eliminates the need for discharging the earth and sand to the earth surface during pile driving operation and is capable of driving and drawing a pile into and out of the earth entirely noisefree and vibration-free.

The present invention provides a pile driving and drawing apparatuswhich includes a frame member securely mounted at a central portion of a caterpillar. An annular member having a ratchet formed on its outer peripheral surface is mounted to an upper annular supporting portion of the frame member so as to be rotatable relative to the frame member. A plurality of hydraulic jacks are pivoted to the frame member so that actuation of these hydraulic jacks can cause rotation of the annular member relative to the frame member. A plurality of hydraulic jacks depend from the lower surface of the annular member and are connected to a substantially cylindrical member at the lower end of the piston rods thereof. The cylindrical member is formed thereinside with a hollow space having an upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion and a downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion which diverge in opposite directions from the position intermediate the vertical height of the hollow space. A plurality of drawing wedges and driving wedges are intimately engageable with these upwardly and downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portions during pile drawing operation and driving operation respectively. A plurality of hydraulic jacks are securely fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member and are each provided with a pair of piston rods extending in opposite directions, and the drawing and driving wedges are operatively connected to the upper and lower ends of the piston rods through-lever means. The frame member receives a hollow cylindrical pile along the vertical axis thereof, and the pile is provided with at least one obliquely downwardly directed nozzle at the lower end thereof. The nozzle is connected to a and by a high-pressure water supply hose connected to the conduit.

The pile driving and drawing apparatus of the present invention having the above features is novel and improved over prior art apparatus of this kind as follows:

i) There is no need for discharging the earth and sand during pile driving operation.

ii) Pile driving operation can be carried out entirely noise-free and vibration-free.

iii) Pile drawing operation as well as pile driving operation can be reliably carried out.

iv) The apparatus has a high mechanical strength and its service life is quite long due to the fact that no impact is imparted to the structural parts during operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevation of a caterpillar mounting thereon a pile driving and drawing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of parts of the apparatus of the present invention during pile driving operation;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view when viewed along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line IVIV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of parts of the apparatus when viewed along the line V-V in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a section of a part of a pile which difi'ers slightly in shape from the pile shown in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIG. I, a frame member 5 is fixedly mounted on a central portion of a caterpillar. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an annular guide rail 21 is formed at the lower end of a substantially annular supporting portion 20 of the frame member 5. An annular member 6 is formed with a ratchet 6' at the outer periphery thereof. A plurality of rollers 7 are suitably mounted on the annular member 6 to make rolling engagement with the guide surface of the annular guide rail 21 so that the annular member 6 is rotatable relative to the frame member 5 fixed to the caterpillar.

A pair of hydraulic jacks 9 are pivoted at one end thereof to the frame member 5 for actuating the ratchet 6'. A pawl 8 engaging the ratchet 6' is mounted at the free end of the piston rod of each hydraulic jack 9. Thus, the annular member 6 having the ratchet 6' thereon can be intermittently rotated in a predetermined direction in response to the actuation of these hydraulic jacks 9.

A cylindrical member 13 is disposed within the frame member 5 and is formed thereinside with a substantially drum-shaped internal space having at its upper half an upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion 130 diverging gradually upwardly toward the upper open end and at its lower half a downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion 13b diverging gradually downwardly toward the lower open end. The cylindrical member 13 is connected at the upper end thereof to the outer end of the piston rods of a plurality of hydraulic jacks 14 so that it is vertically movable within the frame member 5. In FIG. 4, three hydraulic jacks 14 are illustrated by way of example and these hydraulic jacks 14 depend from the lower surface of the annular member 6 for causing the vertical movement of the cylindrical member 13 relative to the frame member 5. A plurality of distortion preventing bars depend similarly from the lower surface of the annular member 6 within the frame member 5 by being secured at the upper end thereof to such surface. The hydraulic jacks 12 are mounted on the outer periphery of the cylindrical member 13 in 120 spaced apart relation at positions substantially middle of the vertical height of the cylindrical member 13. In each hydraulic jack 12, a pair of piston rods extend in opposite directions from a piston 22 and are pivoted at the free end to one end of a pair of levers 23 respectively. Each pair of levers 23 are pivoted at a middle portion thereof to the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical member 13 and at the other end thereof to the lower and upper ends ofa pair of wedges 10 and 11 respectively, as seen in FIG. 2. There are three pairs of such wedges 10 and 11 corresponding to the number of the hydraulic jacks 12, and these wedges 10 and 11 are provided with a tapered outer peripheral surface for intimate engagement with the downwardly and upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portions 13b and 13a respectively of the cylindrical member 13. The wedges l0 and 11 are serrated at their inner peripheral surface so as to releasably hold a pile. The wedges 10 are used during driving of a pile into the earth, and the wedges 11 are used during drawing of the pile from the earth. Thus, the wedges 11 and 10 can move upward and downward while engaging the upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion 13a and the downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion 13b respectively depending on the upward and downward movement of the pistons 22 in the hydraulic jacks 12.

A hollow cylindrical pile l is shown in FIG. 2. This pile 1 has a sharply tapered lower end provided with an opening la, and a nozzle 4 extends obliquely downwardly through the end as shown in FIG. 2. A highpressure water supply conduit 3 extends through the axis of the pile l to be connected at its lower end to the nozzle 4. In another form of the pile 1 shown in FIG. 6, the pile 1 has an open lower end and a plurality of nozzles 4 are provided adjacent to the end to be connected to branch conduits of the high-pressure water supply conduit 3 extending through the axis of the pile 1. An engine 16, an operators cab 17, a high-pressure water supply unit 18 and a hydraulic unit 19 are mounted on the caterpillar as shown in FIG. 1, and hydraulic fluid supply piping and electrical wiring are suitably provided although not shown. A high-pressure water supply hose 2 is connected at one end thereof to the delivery port of the high-pressure water supply unit l8 and at the other end thereof to the upper end of the high-pressure water supply conduit 3.

The operation of the pile driving and drawing apparatus according to the present invention will now be described.

In driving a pile 1 into the earth, the caterpillar is moved to a desired site and the pile l is inserted into the frame member 5. After determining the driving angle of the pile l, the hydraulic jacks 12 are actuated to urge the pistons 22 downward. The downward movement of the pistons 22 causes upward movement of the wedges 10 and the pile l is strongly held by the wedges 10. High-pressure water is then jetted from the nozzle 4 obliquely downward so as to loosen the underlying soil by the jet of high-pressure water. Subsequently, the hydraulic jacks 14 are actuated in the extending direction to cause downward movement of the cylindrical member 13. Therefore, the pile l is driven into the earth which has been preliminarily loosened by the jet of high-pressure water. At the same time, the pile l is rotated in a predetermined direction together with the means including the annular member 6, distortion preventing bars 15, cylindrical member 13 and wedges 10 by the operation of the hydraulic jacks 9. The two hydraulic jacks 9 employed in the embodiment may be alternately actuated to cause continuous rotation of the annular member 6 or they may be simultaneously actuated to cause intermittent rotation of the annular member 6. After the hydraulic jacks 14 have been extended over the full stroke thereof, the pistons 22 in the hydraulic jacks 12 are restored to the original intermediate position to release the fastening force imparted to the pile l by the wedges 10, and the hydraulic jacks 14 are retracted to urge the cylindrical member 13 upward to restore same to the original position. By the repetition of the driving operation in the manner above described, the pile 1 is gradually deeply driven into the earth. In other words, the pile 1 is driven into the earth by the resultant motion of the rotating motion and driving motion.

In drawing the pile 1 from the earth, the hydraulic jacks 14 are extended downward to urge the cylindrical member 13 to its lower position, and the pistons 22 of the hydraulic jacks 12 are urged upward to impart a strong fastening force to the pile l by the wedges 11. Then, the hydraulic jacks 14 are retracted to the original non-extended position and the hydraulic jacks 9 are actuated so that the pile 1 can be urged upward while being rotated around its axis. The operation above described is repeated to draw the pile 1 from the earth.

It will be understood from the above description that, according to the present invention, a jet of highpressure water fed from the obliquely downwardly directed nozzle 4 adjacent to the lower open end portion of the pile is utilized to preliminarily loosen the earth in the vicinity of the lower end of the pile 1, and after imparting a strong fastening force to the pile 1 by the wedges 11 or 10 by actuating the hydraulic jacks 12 depending on the pile driving or drawing operation, the hydraulic jacks l4 and 9 are actuated so as to drive or draw the pile 1 into or from the earth while rotating the pile 1 around its axis. Therefore, there is no need for removal and discharge of the earth and sand, and the pile 1 can be driven into the earth entirely noise-free and vibration-free due to the fact that the pile l is driven into the earth under rotation while softening the loosening the earth and sand by the jet of water under high pressure. Further, the apparatus is very stable because the frame member 5 is disposed at the center of the caterpillar. Furthermore, the pile 1 can be driven, into and drawn from the earth very reliably due to the fact that the pile l is driven and drawn under rotation in the state in which the pile l is strongly fastened by a plurality of wedges and is prevented from undesirable distortion by the distortion preventing bars 15. When a long pile cannot be driven and drawn due to an overhead obstacle such as a land bridge or walkers bridge over the road, a plurality of short piles of suitable length may be joined one after another at the site of construction. In conclusion, the present invention provides a novel and improved apparatus which differs entirely in principle from prior art noiseless and vibrationless pile driving apparatus and can carry out a noiseless and vibrationless pile driving and drawing operation smoothly and efficiently without regard to the diameter of piles and geological properties at the site of construction. Thus, the present invention obviates all the recent public nuisances including the noises and vibrations due to driving of piles during construction work.

What is claimed is:

l. A pile driving and drawing apparatus comprising aframe member (5) securely mounted at a central portion of a caterpillar, an annular member (6) mounted to an upper annular supporting portion (20) of said frame member (5) so as to be rotatable relative to said frame member (5), said annular member (6) having a ratchet (6') formed on its outer peripheral surface, at least one hydraulic jack (9) pivoted to said frame member (5) so that said ratchet (6') can be engaged by a feed pawl (8) mounted at the free end of the piston rod of said hydraulic jack (9), a substantially cylindrical member (13) having a hollow inner space having an upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion (13a) and a downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion (l3b), a plurality of hydraulic jacks (14) depending from the lower surface of said annular member (6), said cylindrical member (13) being connected to the lower end of the piston rods of said hydraulic jacks (14), a plurality of wedges (1 1, l0) intimately engageable with said upwardly and downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portions (13a, 13b) within the hollow inner space of said cylindrical member (13) during pile drawing operation and driving operation respectively, and a plurality of hydraulic jacks (12) securely fixed to the outer peripheral surface of said cylindrical member (13) and each having a pair of piston rods extending in opposite directions therefrom, said wedges (ll, 10) being operatively connected to the upper and lower ends of the piston rods of said hydraulic jacks (12) through lever means (23), said frame member (5) receiving a hollow cylindrical pile (1) along substantially the vertical axis thereof, said pile (1) being provided with at least one obliquely downwardly directed nozzle (4) at the lower end thereof, and said nozzle (4) being connected to a source of water under high pressure by a high-pressure water supply conduit (3) extending axially through said pile (l) and by a high-pressure water supply hose (2) connected to said conduit (3), whereby earth and sand can be loosened by the jet of water under high pressure and said pile (l) releasably held within said cylindrical member (13) by the wedge effect can be driven into or drawn from the earth under rotation without requiring any work for the removal and discharge of the earth and sand. 

1. A pile driving and drawing apparatus comprising a frame Member (5) securely mounted at a central portion of a caterpillar, an annular member (6) mounted to an upper annular supporting portion (20) of said frame member (5) so as to be rotatable relative to said frame member (5), said annular member (6) having a ratchet (6'') formed on its outer peripheral surface, at least one hydraulic jack (9) pivoted to said frame member (5) so that said ratchet (6'') can be engaged by a feed pawl (8) mounted at the free end of the piston rod of said hydraulic jack (9), a substantially cylindrical member (13) having a hollow inner space having an upwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion (13a) and a downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portion (13b), a plurality of hydraulic jacks (14) depending from the lower surface of said annular member (6), said cylindrical member (13) being connected to the lower end of the piston rods of said hydraulic jacks (14), a plurality of wedges (11, 10) intimately engageable with said upwardly and downwardly tapered inner peripheral surface portions (13a, 13b) within the hollow inner space of said cylindrical member (13) during pile drawing operation and driving operation respectively, and a plurality of hydraulic jacks (12) securely fixed to the outer peripheral surface of said cylindrical member (13) and each having a pair of piston rods extending in opposite directions therefrom, said wedges (11, 10) being operatively connected to the upper and lower ends of the piston rods of said hydraulic jacks (12) through lever means (23), said frame member (5) receiving a hollow cylindrical pile (1) along substantially the vertical axis thereof, said pile (1) being provided with at least one obliquely downwardly directed nozzle (4) at the lower end thereof, and said nozzle (4) being connected to a source of water under high pressure by a high-pressure water supply conduit (3) extending axially through said pile (1) and by a high-pressure water supply hose (2) connected to said conduit (3), whereby earth and sand can be loosened by the jet of water under high pressure and said pile (1) releasably held within said cylindrical member (13) by the wedge effect can be driven into or drawn from the earth under rotation without requiring any work for the removal and discharge of the earth and sand. 